Unexpected Complications
by The Kaiser Marcus
Summary: Jericho is caught in a bind as he finds himself between Raven and his Titan friends on the one side, and his father Slade on the other, who has unleashed his latest plan to finish off the teenage heroes, which will call everyone's loyalties into question.


**Disclaimer:I own none of the characters used in this story. They are the property of DC comics and Warner Bros. among other associate companies with them.**

Even with two layers of clothes Jericho couldn't help but shiver from the cool breeze blowing all along the length of the beach. It was night, and without heat from the sun the sand was wet and clumping to his shoes as the mute walked. This wasn't a leisurely stroll for Jericho, he was out here for a mission. Looking over at the ledge that marked the end of the beach and beginning of the mainland, from yellow sand to green grass, he could see the all the positions the Titans had marked out and hidden in, waiting for Jericho to spring whatever trap was laid here. For the past week a number of beachgoers had gone missing on this particular stretch, and with the local police completely perplexed as to why, the Titans had been called in.

Jericho could hear all the others chatting over the intercom fastened securely to his high neck collar. He'd been walking and listening like this for the past hour, and not once turning to add his own two cents. Any sign from him might have given them off to the whoever was doing the kidnapping. To add to the plan, Jericho wasn't wearing his normal clothes either but instead a great tan overcoat with a red sweater and slightly darker tan pants underneath. Hands in his front pockets the blond teen kept walking forward, alternatively looking from straight ahead of him to out across the ocean, taking in the dark, beautiful sights.

Continuing like this for another half-hour, Jericho was beginning to look more over to the bushes and trees sheltering the others from view than he knew he should be. He couldn't help it really; Robin had ordered radio silence but every time one of the Titans thought they'd seen something, they called it out on the intercom and got everyone talking while Jericho took a closer look. He understood the important role he was playing here, that his powers were central to getting this job done, but he couldn't help feel just a little isolated.

"Jericho." Jericho picked up immediately at hearing this voice, and not just because it wasn't Beast Boy seeing the latest leaf get blown around. It was Raven. Jericho didn't know how to describe the sway the empath seemed to have over him when she spoke or when he saw her. Months ago, when he first came to Jump City, first started talking and seeing her he had. It had been the immature sort though, the kind of description his mother had told him when he'd first asked the kind of questions about what drew her to his father, or vice versa. Now, the best he could do was know it brought smiles to his lips and a race to his heart, and knew that if he could just capture it and put it down in music, he'd have the most beautiful work in all of history, better than Tchaikovsky's _Romeo and Juliet _even! Whether Raven had the same feelings when she saw or talked to him however, Jericho did not know that, and it was a question that plagued him as he went to sleep every odd fortnight.

Momentarily lost in though, Jericho looked over to Raven, compromising security and signaling for her to repeat. Raven jabbed a hand out of the bushes and pointed over to the ocean. Jericho turned and got sick feeling in his stomach as he saw the water boiling and spiraling out about ten feet out from him.

Jericho turned on his heels and got ready for what they'd planned, watching intently with wide eyes as multiple greenish-blue figures shot out from the water twenty feet into the air. As they came down they pointed their tridents at the mute teen, ready to spear him at a moment's notice.

"What is such an inferior fool doing on our beach?"

"Perhaps he thinks he is as perfect as us!"

"We shall prove him how arrogant this inferior being is!"

Jericho felt himself breaking a smile despite all the dangerous words and pointy spears the three Trident clones were shoving at him. He knew he couldn't act yet, he had to wait, had to hold out until the last possible moment. Standing there, his tan overcoat's ends flapping in the wind, Jericho and the other Titans waited for the perfect moment.

"Shall we strike it now?"

"YES!" all three exclaimed together, and they charged at Jericho with their spears. Time seemed to slow down as the mute tracked all of them, watching their spears, seeing which one was first to get reach him. He had act to their egoes, let them think they'd got him--

He felt the point of the spears in him, felt them cut through his overcoat, into his skin, too late, he had to do it now--

_Contact._

The spears dug only a fraction of a second more into him, and then he was corpreal, jumping into the body of the middle clone. He followed the movements of the other two Tridents to the letter, landing on the sand without stumbling, checking his spear, and looking at the others in feigned confusion.

"Has the inferior one been obliterated?" one asked.

"Were we not superior?" another answered.

"Indeed we are, let us return then to our lair!" the first one answered back. The two Jericho had no control over walked off, oblivious to the third and dove back into the ocean. As soon as they were gone the Titans burst from their hiding spots and ran over to Jericho, who immediately left the clone to let Cyborg pummel it into submission. He stumbled out, regaining his body had also reminded him of the injuries he'd just taken.

"You got the location of where they're keeping the people?" Robin asked him as he came up. Jericho nodded and signed the information he'd gleamed in the fish mongrel's head. It hadn't been too hard to locate given the egotistical nature of the creature, which meant it hadn't had too many thoughts to decipher through.

With the knowledge acquired, Robin gave orders out to the rest of the team to get prepared. The people were being held in an underground cavern not too far from this coastline. The team would need diving equipment to reach it however, ones which Cyborg was already auto-calling out to their area. As Robin and Cyborg were discussing whether to go in with stealth or not care if they were spotted by the Tridents, the other few Titans came over to Jericho.

"Nice going dude, sure showed those fish-heads!" Beast Boy said.

"Yes, Jericho, you were most marvelous in your control." Starfire added, clasping her hands together.

"You're hurt."

Raven walked over to the mute and examined the wounds he'd taken. She put her hand to his abdomen and Jericho felt a certain sensation surge through him. Taking her hand back, the holes in his clothes were still there, but his punctures were healed. He signed to thank her.

The vehicle the Titans were waiting for, their T-Sub, reached them after a few minutes more of waiting. The original five Titans jumped into their cockpits, while Robin threw a last comment at the mute teen.

"We'll catch up with you later, thanks for the help tonight Jericho. If you need anything, contact us." The mute teen smiled warmly, and waved as they piloted the ship off into the ocean and beneath the waves. He stayed a few minutes after, before departing his own way.

The city limits were only a half-hour out from here, not too much of a walk. The wind still blowing. Jericho tightened his overcoat around himself, and set off.

**-T-**

"It was... anti-climactic."

Jericho nodded along with Raven as the two made their way down the street, an hour or so after midnight. Raven wasn't sure why they were out this late, the fight with Trident which she'd been telling Jericho about ended a couple hours ago. Yet here they were, walking through Jump City past the reasonable hours with no actual goal on their minds. If it had been near anyone else Raven swore she would have flown back off for the tower, and even now she had half-a-mind to do

that. She wasn't exactly sure what kept her here.

Jericho signed more, trying to pry a few more details from the empath at his side. Raven shrugged, remembering why she was here; Jericho was one of the few people she knew who wouldn't drive her nuts talking. And after spending a whole night listening to Beast Boy and Cyborg go at it over the comms while watching for any sign of danger, this was a welcome change.

_'So would have been a bed.'_ Raven swatted the provoking thought away.

The two kept walking, Jericho taking in all the neon lights and contrasts in shadows, all the little distinguished pieces of architecture, every detail of a building including the people inside. For most people the effect of seeing the city's nightly landscape would have worn off after the second or third time. Raven had noticed this didn't apply to Jericho. Every change in the area, from broken signs to closed stores became a new canvas from him, an entirely different picture to paint. Raven knew of course; she'd watched him paint a series on this street alone. Every time a firm grounding of similarity but yet just enough variety to keep things interesting.

A little whiles more and they eventually crossed out of the artsy district of the city, and the sights became much more mundane and conforming to each other. What conversation the two Titans had however didn't die down; Raven would comment on something that had gone on at the Tower today or the day before and Jericho would either laugh silently or just continue to listen. He exuded such a sense of utter-contentedness, which Raven could only envy. Her father was gone but her powers were still shackled to her emotions, too strong of a feeling and things would start exploding.

In Jericho's presence though, Raven felt a little more at ease, a little more freer than usual. Almost like an aura, the mute teen's self-contentment reached out and affected all those around him. Most wouldn't notice this, never having to keep their emotions at a null; Raven did.

"They're... doing training tomorrow, team-oriented. You should come." Raven watched as Jericho nodded to her latest answer. He'd been here for a few months, and had made it a habit to come to the Tower almost daily, even if for only an hour or two. As an honorary there were rooms he could've used to live in the tower with the others, everyone knew the place was large enough to house a number of other Titans. Somehow in the short time he'd been here though Jericho had gotten his own place in the city. He hadn't shown the others where it was, and they'd never asked about it much either. Raven had her suspicions that Robin had done snooping on the matter; two years on the Titans had done away with much of his habits he'd developed in Gotham, but not all of them.

They reached a street that etched itself right next into the bay line where the Tower stood across the shallow waters. Jericho smiled and gripped Raven's hand, before turning and walking back into the city, to where he stayed.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Jericho." Raven said to him, a little too quietly, but enough that he knew she'd replied to his last gesture. The empath watched as he disappeared behind a street corner, vanishing from view. Then putting her hood back up, she flew off to the Tower, blending into the dark night sky.

**-T-**

Jericho had a smile on his face that he couldn't put off, and so he wore it all the way back home. When he'd first gotten back to the city from helping on the mission he'd stopped at his place and waited for one of the others to call him to tell them it'd gone all right. When his communicator had gone off and Raven answered, he'd left without taking his jacket, walking too briskly out to meet up with them to remember it. But for most of the night he'd barely noticed the cold nipping at him, and now he even felt a little too warm, walking down the street with his arms swinging a little too widely, his stride slightly off-kilter. He was attracting stares from other passerby, both in cars and on the sidewalk right next to him but he couldn't care much.

In almost no time at all he'd gotten back to his home. Walking up the steps to the door, he knocked and waited. In almost no time at all the door swung open and Wintergreen, the family butler appeared.

"Good to see you home Master Wilson, your father has actually been expecting you for some time." Jericho's earlier sense of euphoria disappeared as he heard Wintergreen's announcement. Walking around the elderly gentleman, he moved over to the door underneath the staircase in the seemingly-small house. As if noticing his hesitation, Wintergreen moved with him and opened that door as well.

Jericho meekly signed his thanks, and began his descent down the very long flight of stairs that led to another what Wintergreen had often referred to as just "another part of the house". For the few months that he'd stayed here, Jericho was glad to have descended these stairs only one other time. It had allowed him not to think of this. The situation that he had found himself in when he'd first arrived in the city, and become fast friends with all the titans, and learned of all their conflicts and enemies. It wasn't that he hated his father. he loved him dearly but...

Memories of happier times, of times with his mother and father and brother constantly bubbled to the surface at times like these. At times of thinking about his father. He never blamed him for what had happened years ago, his mother had but he hadn't, couldn't maybe. And even after the accident his father had stayed in his life, bit by bit until his mother had hidden him away somewhere Jericho couldn't have been found. He'd raised him, trained him, loved him. And even though his voice seemed different, colder, more distant than before, he could tell his father still did.

But... he'd heard things from the Titans as well. Crimes, kidnappings, attacks on the city, on innocent people. By him, his father, the man he loved as a child and still did. He didn't know how to take that information. He was a... hero, he was supposed to stop crime. He'd done it before, with the Brotherhood and several of the regulars in the city. Up till now he had put it off, tried not to think of the dilemma in front of him. But going to face him now brought up all those thoughts, and he couldn't quiet them. Each step echoed into the corridor, matching his heart beats almost to the pulse. He didn't get a solution any closer as he got to the bottom, and his anxiety grew. The Titans were his friends, Raven was...

But Slade, they called him that whenever they talked about him (which wasn't often, thankfully), was his father. He'd done evil things, he needed to be stopped... but Joseph couldn't be brought to face it; he refused to face it. He reached the bottom of the stairs, and pushed the door open leading to the "room under the house".

Jericho took a few steps in. It was pitch-black inside, and he barely had any time to adjust before his father spoke out to him.

"Joseph."

Jericho twirled around, his father standing right behind him. His bright green eyes opened in shock as he heard his father grunt and felt him bury his fist into his gut, knocking Jericho off his feet and back. As the mute teen struggled to get back up, Slade spoke.

"You disappoint me, Joseph. Your time with the Titans has done little to improve your ability. I was right to think I should have continued your training where we left off, rather than let you traverse the streets with your 'friends'."

Jericho kept pushing himself up, that one punch taking more out of him than he'd ever thought possible. His father's outstretched hand appeared in front of his face, and he took it.

"I didn't call you down here to train you however, Joseph." And with that lights came on in the room. Jericho caught his breath as he stood looking around, his father walking away from him.

"The reason I called you down here today was for a... celebration of sorts."

Jericho looked back at his father, eyes widening. Celebration? For what? He watched as his father disappeared back into the shadows at the edges of the room. He felt his heartbeat pick up, a bead of sweat trickled down near his eye. Minutes passed.

"Ravager, if you would start."

He heard the running come up from behind, the heavy breathing; the feet pounding on the stainless steel floor. He twirled around, focused on the person sprinting towards him, his eyes switching prematurely to jettison himself astrally into the other person's body. The white disappeared and his green irises shined out brilliantly against the total blackness of his eyes. And then...

Jericho's eyes returned to normal and he lurched back, letting his guard down just as he recognized his attacker.

It couldn't be...

**~T~**


End file.
